Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-09-08
WESTERN HoRssmen.


Fhey Arc Not Stylish. Hut Gan Beat TN
World Rid:ag . Horne.
AS one goes West the American sad
lie horse loses much of his poetry
His tail is no longer paint brush. hi.
coat Is no longer velvet his veins nc
longer stand out with heated blue
grass blood; he no longer champs and
curvets and dances and fumes. HI
simply gets up and gets. and the man
on top of him bowls and lashes him.
There is no poetry in the cowboys
horse. but there is a heap of Uis inerti0.
especially when his rider is after the
deetest steer in the herd or the wildes!
band Of calves.
R'tten row isn't anywhere then. but
the festive cowboy is glued to his
horse. and no power but equine apo
plexy or gopher hole could dislodge
him. These fellows are not graceful;
any Chicago riding master would
charge them one hundred dollars les
son to teach them to ride in boulevard
shape. but they are horsemen. They
can ride on the neck. or clinging to
the cinch. or with only foot in the
stirrup; they can mount and dismount
on full run; they can pick up silver
dollars from the ground. they can turn
somersaults over the horses rump.
grab his tail. and spring again to the
saddle at full speed. They are bar
barrie centaurs. but there is no grace
or refinement in their movements
is not equestrianism.
The best type of American horse
manship obtains in the American
cavalryman. The soldier. with his &C
coutrements his tapederos. as the
Spanish call his s,irrup guides, his
blanket roll. his sabertache. his saddle
pockets and his huge pommel in front
to rest his hands.
The horse is a clean, gaunt creature.
strong. sinewy and utterly devoid of
monkey business" He is trained to
walk. He never gallops except under
SPUR, but he will walk three miles an
hour o. march. and save himself and
his rider. The lamented General
Candy. who was killed in the Modoc
war some years ago. once sal II
have paid out of my own pocket 81. 200
for a mare that would walk four miles
an hour. To get such beast it must
be nervous and quick-footed and en-
tirely tractable, and then you have to
pay for it."
The cavalry horse has two or three
trainings. but the chief of them is to
walk fast. and any man who knows
about horses will say that this is the
hardest thing to teach. The average
horse is one thing or the othcr-he is
in full swing or he is lazy as snail.
To get the desired point between those
TWO is the object of all men who buy
horses for the army. and of the cavalry
men who have to handle them. Two
years ago party of men stood on the
bank of the Cmmaron river. in the
Indian Territory. The waters were
aging: AL the army teamsters said
he stream was swimming" and inn
,assible. 1t was fifteen hundred yards
across. The waters were boiling. No
,ody dared venture. All at once on
he opposite bank was seen a single
:avalryman.
He rode great brown horse and
wore a waterproof suit, and on his
'ack was strapped an oil-skin bag. He
lad his carbine and belt Of cartridges.
md rs the gallant brute he rode
plunged into the stream nc lifted and
waved it aloft. Then as the horse lost
lis footing he caught the carbin. on
he saddle. slid back, grabbed the
lorse's tail and the brave beast |
breasted the seething current.
He'll make it"' yelled big team
ter. That's Jack Comfor of the
fifth Cavalry! He's Major Summers
nurier!"
Fifty people watched. The great
lorse caught his footing: An instant
or breathing spell. Private Comfort
limbed up slowly in the water. pat;cd
he neck of his animal, got mis- seat
md waded out.
What news. Jack"'
Cant stop; dispatches from Sheri-
ant" He waved his hand, and with a
notion of his heel the strong. wet
orse lunged into gallop through the
and, and in a second was lost in the
'illows and sage brush. The Amer
,an cavalry rider is the hardest type
+ his kind; the beast that bears him is
OF equaled on any Chicago
'ribune.
The largest hanging bell in the
'orld is in Buddhist monastery, New
linton Nhin~ II - o;D1,,non l